How Ancient Philosophy Builds High-Performing Teams: A Stoic Perspective

Imagine being part of a team where every member operates with clarity, purpose, and resilience. Team members collaborate seamlessly, trust each other deeply, and maintain focus on individual and team goals, no matter the challenge. Those fortunate enough to have experienced a high-performing team will recognise that almost indescribable feeling—a shared energy, consciousness and flow that propels everyone forward, even in the face of complex and seemingly insurmountable challenges. Sounds good doesn’t it?

This is the essence of a high-performing team: individuals united by shared values, guided by strong leadership, and driven by both collective and personal accountability. In today's rapidly changing world, building and sustaining such teams can feel like an elusive goal. We often find ourselves asking: What truly makes a team "high-performing"? How do we cultivate the right environment for this kind of excellence? And what principles can guide us in doing so?

Enter Stoicism, an ancient philosophy that, despite its age, offers powerful insights into modern leadership and team dynamics. In this article, the third in my series on Stoicism in Leadership, I’ll share my thoughts on the key ingredients of a high-performing team, how to foster them, and why Stoic principles are so relevant to building these high-functioning groups — whether you’re leading the team or contributing as a member.

The Key Ingredients of a High-Performing Team

In my experience building a high-performing team doesn’t happen by chance. It requires a concerted effort to combine various elements that foster trust, collaboration, and accountability. Below I’ve outlined what I feel are the most important ingredients based on my experience of both building and participating in high-performing technology teams:

1. Trust and Psychological Safety: Trust is the foundation of any high-performing team and the most critical element in my experience. When team members feel safe to speak up, share ideas, and take risks without fear of judgment, it fosters open dialogue and encourages innovation. It is hard to build and easy to lose, yet is critical. In technology teams, psychological safety is particularly important when dealing with complex challenges, such as raising potential issues in a codebase, discussing technical debt, or proposing new solutions. Teams perform best when they feel safe to critique ideas and suggest improvements without fear of backlash.
2. Shared Purpose and Vision: High-performing teams are driven by a clear, shared sense of purpose. Every member understands the broader goals and knows how their individual contributions fit into the bigger picture. This alignment ensures that everyone is working in the same direction, reducing confusion and friction. In technology teams, this shared purpose often revolves around delivering innovative solutions, improving user experiences, or solving complex business-technology problems. Whether your team is developing new AI tools, migrating to the cloud, or launching a new digital product, each member should know how their work contributes to the overall strategy.
3. Diverse Skill Sets and Perspectives: High-performing teams leverage the unique strengths and experiences of their members. Diversity of personalities, skills, perspectives and ways of working allows the team to tackle challenges from different angles and fosters adaptability. Technology teams thrive on this diversity, which often includes architects, engineers, data scientists, designers, and product managers (and more), each bringing their expertise to the table. This blend of perspectives is crucial for solving technical problems, developing creative solutions, and pushing innovation forward for organisations.
4. Clear Roles and Accountability: In a high-performing team, every member knows their role and responsibilities, reducing ambiguity and confusion. Accountability ensures that each person takes ownership of their tasks and holds themselves and others to high standards. For technology teams, clarity in roles is vital—whether in agile sprints, DevOps environments, or cross-functional collaboration. Developers know their code is their responsibility, data teams handle insights and analysis, architects drive overall enterprise and solution design, and everyone contributes to keeping projects on track. This clarity boosts efficiency and trust within the team.
5. Open and Transparent Communication: Communication is a cornerstone of high-performing teams. Clear, honest, and constructive communication ensures that all team members are aligned on goals, progress, and potential challenges, helping to minimise misunderstandings. In technology teams, this often translates into regular stand-ups, sprint retrospectives, and visibility into project roadmaps. Tools like Confluence, Jira or Slack are commonly used to ensure communication flows smoothly, but ultimately, it’s the team’s commitment to openness and transparency that drives alignment and cohesion.
6. Continuous Learning and Improvement: A hallmark of high-performing teams is their commitment to continually challenge themselves with the question of "what can we do better?". They regularly reflect on their performance, seek feedback, and look for ways to grow and evolve. This mindset ensures the team remains adaptable in the face of new challenges. For technology teams, continuous learning is critical, as the technology landscape evolves rapidly. Teams that embrace this mindset frequently engage in post-mortems after incidents, hold knowledge-sharing sessions, pursue technical certifications, and conduct research to stay ahead of industry trends and best practices
7. Adaptability and Resilience: High-performing teams are both flexible and resilient. They adapt quickly to changing environments, new challenges, and shifting priorities without losing sight of their goals. They see challenges as opportunities to grow and improve. In a technology team context, adaptability might mean shifting priorities mid-project, responding to unexpected technical issues, handling sudden surges in system demand or designing solutions within shifting delivery, financial and other constraints. Resilient teams keep their cool under pressure, troubleshoot effectively, and find ways to pivot when necessary to meet project goals. These teams “work the problem” as Gene Kranz, Flight Director for NASA, is well known for saying when things hit the fan.
8. Mutual Support and Collaboration: High-performing teams recognise that success is a collective effort. They collaborate closely and support each other, knowing that their strength lies in the contributions of every member. In technology teams, collaboration is often cross-functional—architects, developers, operations teams, and UX designers working together to deliver quality products. When team members actively support one another and are willing to step in when needed, it ensures that projects move forward smoothly, even in the face of obstacles.

How Stoicism applies to building high-performing teams

As I’ve learnt more about the philosophy of Stoicism I’ve come to believe that its principles offer many valuable insights into how to build and lead high-performing teams. Here is how I believe Stoic wisdom can help both leaders and team members grow their performance with a twist of what this may mean in a technology team context:

1. Focus on What You Can Control: A key Stoic tenet is to focus on what is within your control and let go of what isn’t. This could mean focusing on designing an innovative solution architecture, writing quality code, debugging issues, or optimising algorithms, while letting go of external pressures like shifting business / client demands or market changes. Leaders can help by steering the team’s attention towards solutions and personal accountability rather than dwelling on factors outside the team’s influence.
2. Cultivate Virtue: Stoicism emphasises living with wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance. While this may sound ‘fluffy’ it actually translates into ethical decision-making in areas like customer data collection and usage, courageous actions when taking on complex projects, fairness in allocating resources, and balance in workload distribution. Leaders can foster these virtues by promoting ethical standards and recognising virtuous behavior in their teams, as well as role modelling virtuous actions themselves.
3. Embrace Adversity as an Opportunity for Growth: In Stoicism, challenges are seen as opportunities for growth. High-performing teams can view obstacles—whether it’s a bug in production, a delayed project, a failed implementation or an unhappy customer or stakeholder — as learning experiences that offer unique opportunities to drive improvement. Leaders should frame setbacks as learning opportunities, encouraging a growth mindset rather than a fear of mistake and failure.
4. Ego Control: Stoicism teaches us to keep our egos in check. This means embracing humility when collaborating on projects, accepting feedback graciously, and putting the team’s success above individual recognition. Leaders can model ego control by sharing credit with the team and being open and vulnerable about their own mistakes.
5. Emotional Regulation: Stoics practice the regulation of emotions, ensuring that they respond to challenges with calmness and reason rather than reacting impulsively. For teams working under tight deadlines or during high-pressure scenarios, practicing emotional regulation can help maintain focus and productivity. Leaders can create a calm environment by demonstrating thoughtful responses to stress and encouraging team members to take a moment before reacting in tense situations. It also means taking time to visualise and practice responses to potentially challenging situations before they actually occur.

Practically putting Stoicism into action to strengthen your team

So as a Leader what can you do to put the wisdom of Stoicism into action to help grow towards a high-performing team? Here are some suggestions to get you going:

1. Encourage Focus on Controllables: Help your team differentiate between what they can control (their effort, attitude, and communication) and what they can’t (external circumstances or other people’s reactions). In meetings or during challenges, actively prompt them to identify factors within their control and focus their energy there.
2. Foster an Environment of Psychological Safety: Cultivate a team culture where individuals feel safe to express their thoughts without fear of judgment. Encourage open dialogue, celebrate diverse opinions, and assure your team that mistakes are learning opportunities, not failures. This requires investment of time in building trust and expressing vulnerability.
3. Promote Accountability with Virtue in Mind: Create a culture where accountability is rooted in the virtues of courage, justice, and wisdom. Encourage your team members to own their actions and decisions while striving for ethical outcomes.
4. Practice Regular Reflection and Feedback: Implement regular team reflections to review progress, challenges, and successes. Use Stoic practices like journaling or quiet reflection (or the more modern “retrospective”) to encourage continuous improvement at both the individual and team levels.
5. Model Emotional Regulation: As a leader, demonstrate calmness and rationality, especially in high-pressure situations. Teach your team the value of pausing before reacting emotionally, especially during conflicts or setbacks. Incorporate mindfulness practices, such as taking a moment of reflection before making decisions, to instill emotional control in the team dynamic. Practicing pre-mortems and scenario exploration can help team members practice and develop this skill by visualising and working through possible challenging situations before they happen.
6. Set an Example of Ego Control: Show humility and a team-first mentality. Acknowledge the contributions of others and be willing to admit mistakes. This creates a culture where the collective success of the team takes precedence over individual egos, fostering collaboration and reducing friction.
7. Reward Resilience and Perseverance: Recognise and reward team members who show resilience in the face of challenges. Encourage them to view difficulties as opportunities to grow, in line with Stoic teachings. By celebrating perseverance and adaptability, you reinforce a culture of continuous improvement and grit.

By embedding these Stoic-inspired practices into your leadership style, I believe you will be well placed to cultivate a team that is not only high-performing but also equipped to thrive in the face of adversity. As your team internalises these principles, there more likely to develop a mindset that embraces challenges, values growth, and strives for excellence—no matter the circumstances.

As you work to build or contribute to your own high-performing team, I hope the insights from Stoicism shared in this article offer practical guidance and inspiration. These principles are timeless, yet their relevance in today’s complex, fast-paced environments is profound. I encourage you to reflect on these ideas, try them with your team, and see the impact for yourself. And as you discover what works best, please share your own experiences and insights—your unique perspective could be invaluable to others on a similar journey. Together, we can create teams that not only achieve excellence but also grow stronger with every challenge. That sounds like somewhere I’d like to work, what about you?

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